Suboxone maker Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB Group) will pay the U.S. government a record $1.4 billion to end criminal and civil probes into the marketing of its addiction treatment medication, making it the largest settlement related to the opioid crisis in U.S. history, authorities said on Thursday.
The settlement will cover multiple investigations into the company’s subsidiary, Indivior (formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals Inc.), and its alleged illegal marketing of its drug, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
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On April 9, a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted Indivior for “allegedly engaging in an illicit nationwide scheme to increase prescriptions of Suboxone,” according to the DOJ. The company denied the charges and trial is scheduled to start in May 2020.
Federal prosecutors charged that Indivior allegedly marketed a version of Suboxone (Suboxone Film) to medical professionals as less addictive and safer than other drugs containing its active ingredient, the opioid buprenorphine, according to the DOJ statement.
